29th July 2015 15:00
By Blue Tutors
The chief inspector of Ofsted Michael Wilshaw has said that children from disadvantage backgrounds should begin school at age two. The schools inspector has raised concerns that pre-school places are being colonised by middle class parents, leaving disadvantaged students behind. He advised struggling parents to take advantage of the free early years places provided by the government, which total 15 hours a week. He noted that half of those entitled to free childcare were not using the service.
Wilshaw argued that providing early years care in school would be of particular benefit to children from poorer backgrounds, allowing them to make the transition to school more easily. Further, there is an added appeal of having such students in school earlier as it means that expert adult help will be available earlier on. It would also make it less likely that children fall between the cracks of the council and education records, meaning that children are tracked earlier through the system. Wilshaw also spoke of the need to employ well-qualified graduate teachers who could work well with students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Ofsted have raised concerns that an alarmingly low school places had been added in schools, with fewer than seven additional children being able to take up school places in each local authority area. Wilshaw admitted that the benefits of putting children into school at two years old was not tested, but argued that it needed to be tried. He also emphasised that places for two year olds in school early years needed to be reserved for the poorest children, after evidence came to light of middle class parents dominating nursery places. Wilshaw concluded that whilst there was no considerable benefit for middle class children attending school at two instead of nursery, this would be a significant to two year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds.